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acute renal failure
renal failure that happens suddenly; it may be caused by trauma, infection, inflammation, exposure to nephrotoxic chemicals that damage the renal tubules, or less often circulatory collapse, severe dehydration, or hypotension. Acute renal failure may be classified as either prerenal (associated with poor systemic perfusion and decreased renal blood flow), intrarenal (associated with kidney ischemia or toxins), or postrenal (resulting from obstruction of urine flow out of the kidneys). Oliguria is the hallmark of tubular necrosis, but it is not always present.
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